Page 14 of All Because I Found You

He glanced around, looking out to the street. “Is your crew on the way?”

“What crew?”

“You’re going to clean this entire barn out yourself?”

“That’s the plan.”

She moved past him, garbage bags in hand, and he followed her into the barn. Without skipping a beat, she went right to the large stack of hay and started shoving it into the bag. For some reason, he’d expected a woman like her to be wearing a hazmat suit and, if not, at least a pair of gloves, but her hands were bare.

“Are you going to stand there staring, or you going to make yourself useful and help?” she asked.

He pointed to his chest. “Me?”

She shoved another pile of straw in the bag. “You’re the only person here. Unless you have something to do, which you probably do. I didn’t mean to assume. I just figured since you came out here and all.”

“Do you ever stop talking?”

She straightened and met his gaze. “No.”

“No kidding.”

“Here.” She held a bag out to him.

He crossed his arms and leaned back on his boots. “This is your thing.”

She let out a frustrated huff he found very amusing. “Seriously?”

“You said I just had to sign, and you would take care of the rest.”

Her brown eyes narrowed, pinning him in place. “Then why are you here?”

“Just making sure the equipment was moved out.”

“You could have called or sent a text, even checked with your own crew.”

He could have, but then he wouldn’t have been able to see her. He glanced around the barn. “No coffee today?”

“I have two in the car. I didn’t want to risk getting dirt in the cup.”

“Because it’s the dirt that would be bad for you and not the thousand milligrams of caffeine. Besides, you’re not wearing a face covering, so you’re breathing all of that dirty and God knows what else in.”

She held her hand up, and her shoulders rose and fell with a big inhale. Then her eyes popped open as she most likely realized how much she just breathed in. Her body shifted. “Thank you for reminding me I’m possibly inhaling things you can’t even name, but I need to get this done.” She got on her knees, using her entire upper body to gather the debris and shove it into the garbage bag.

He was impressed by her ingenuity and determination. “You really don’t mind getting your hands dirty, huh?”

“I’m willing to do whatever I have to do to ensure my client the event I promised.”

“Including sitting in a bikini and singing horribly for five hours straight.”

“There are no limits I won’t take to make things happen. So with that said, if you’re not going to help, I’m done talking to you.”

It was his out. All he needed to do was turn around, get in his truck, and get the hell out of there. It was an easy out. But it wasn’t easy. He wanted to stay here and see what other surprises Raelyn had up her sleeves. If anything, the woman was entertaining.

Without a word, he bent down and picked up a garbage bag. He saw the satisfied smile on her lips, but he didn’t say anything and neither did she. They worked in silence, side by side, and usually he liked the silence, but with Raelyn right beside him, he wanted to talk to her. Or at least for her to talk. He liked her voice… for the most part. He was happy she wasn’t singing. Her talking voice was sexy; her singing voice on the other hand… left little to be desired.

Once they filled the bags and the barn was cleaner than he’d ever seen it, Raelyn put her hands on her hips and glanced around.

“Looks like we’re done here.”

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